Creating an Execution Culture -
A Leader's Most Important Job
"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own
selves." James 1:22
"Execution is the great unaddressed issue in the business world today.
Its absence is the single biggest obstacle to success and the cause of
most of the disappointments that are mistakenly attributed to other
causes." ― Ram Charan, author of What the CEO Wants You to Know and
Boards that Work
In the year 2000 alone, 40 CEOs of the top 200 companies on Fortune's 500
list were fired or made to resign. When 20 percent of the most powerful
business leaders lose their jobs, something is clearly wrong.
Leaders make big promises . and then what their organizations actually
deliver falls short. They have accountability problems-people aren't
doing what they're supposed to do. Execution is a culture with a specific
set of behaviors and techniques that companies must master in order to
have competitive advantage. More than a tactic, it is a discipline and a
system that must be built into a company's strategy, goals, and culture,
and the leader of the organization must be deeply engaged in it.
Many pastors and ministry leaders have the same problem. They are always
setting lofty goals and rolling out new plans for their ministry. They
have a heart to see their ministry prosper, but they never seem to
achieve their desired goals. They are guilty of over-promising and
under-delivering. As it is in business, the Lord's work requires a
disciplined approach to accomplishing Biblical goals.
"Many people regard execution as detail work that's beneath the
dignity of a business leader. That's wrong . it's a leader's most
important job." ― Larry Bossidy, former chairman and CEO, Honeywell
International
According to Ram Charan and Larry Bossidy in their book Execution (2002),
a lack of focus on the discipline of execution is the main reason
companies fall short on their promises. It explains the gap between what
leaders want and what they deliver. The same is true with many
ministries.
Execution should be a central part of a ministry's strategy and goals and
the priority of its leaders. An execution culture links the three core
processes of any successful organization-the people process, the
strategy, and the operating plan-together to accomplish things on time.
The execution phase forces the leaders to translate the broad-brush
conceptual understanding of the ministry's strategy into an action plan
for how it will manifest: who will do what in which sequence, how long
those tasks will take, how much will they cost, and how they will affect
subsequent activities. Fundamentally, execution is a systematic way of
exposing reality and acting on it. Most churches and ministries do not
face reality very well; hence, they can't execute.
Execution Questions
- Who will do the job-and how will they be judged and held
accountable?
- What human, technical, production, and financial resources are needed
to execute the strategy?
- Will the organization have the resources it needs two years out, when
the strategy goes to the next level?
- Does the strategy deliver the results required for success?
- Can it be broken down into doable initiatives?
People engaged in the processes argue these questions, search out
reality, and reach specific and practical conclusions. All agree on their
responsibilities for getting things done and commit to those
responsibilities.
3 Core Processes:
People, Strategy & Operations
The heart of execution lies in the three core processes (the people
process, the strategy process, and the operations process), which every
business uses in one form or another.
In a 10-year study of winning companies, professors William Joyce and
Nitin Nohria found five primary management practices that directly
correlate with superior corporate performance, as measured by total
return to shareholders: execution, strategy, culture, and structure (What
Really Works, 2003).
However, more often than not, these core processes stand apart from one
another like silos. Typically, senior leadership teams allot less than
half a day each year to review the plans and, generally, the reviews are
not particularly interactive. What is needed is:
- Robust dialogue to surface the realities of the organization.1 Chron.
13:1/Luke 14:31
- Accountability for results discussed openly and agreed to by those
responsible for getting things done. Luke 16:2
- Rewards for the best performers. Matt. 6:4/Matt. 16/27/1 Cor. 9:17
- Follow-through to ensure that progress tracks to the plans. 2 Cor. 8:11
- Emotional Fortitude to make the hard decisions
Robust Dialogue
An execution culture requires robust dialogue that brings reality to the
surface through openness, candor, and informality. When mistakes are
made, openness is preserved and blaming avoided. The information is used
for course correction. Candor and honesty foster creativity and
ultimately lead to focused execution and achievement of goals.
Accountability for results
Leaders must hold people accountable for their results. Well-meaning
people who work hard do not always convert hard work into results. Our
cause is too important not to succeed. Leaders must create a method to
ensure each member of the team is achieving their objectives. Requiring
people to give an account of their efforts will lead them to focus their
actions on things that produce results. This will also help team members
to set realistic goals.
Rewards
Rewards play an important role in inspiring people to be focused and work
hard. God told us that we will receive rewards for our labors in his
behalf. While many think that rewarding your best performers for
excelling at their tasks is carnal, the Lord disagrees. We would be wise
to follow his example
Follow - through
It is imperative that leaders create an environment where team members do
what they have agreed to do. Too many ministries have good people who
want to do right, but never seem to deliver on their promises. Again,
what we do is too important to fail. Leaders are accountable to God for
how they lead others. They need to ensure people discipline themselves to
stick to the plan and eliminate the myriad of distractions that come our
way daily.
Emotional Fortitude
Emotional fortitude is necessary to be open to whatever information you
need, whether it is what you want to hear or not. It takes a special kind
of confidence to encourage and accept challenges in group settings. It is
necessary to accept and deal with your own weaknesses and
vulnerabilities, to be firm with people who aren't performing, and to
handle the ambiguity inherent in fast-moving, complex organizations.
4 Core Qualities
Bossidy and Charan point out four core qualities that make up emotional
fortitude:
- Authenticity
- Self-awareness
- Self-mastery
- Humility
Clearly these qualities should be well developed in executives in top
positions; however, often one or two of them are often underdeveloped.
Leadership development at this level requires the services of a
professionally trained executive coach to provide focus and guidance in
enhancing these four qualities.
Execution Is the Main Job
Leaders often bristle when told they have to run the three core processes
themselves. "You're telling me to micromanage my people, and I don't do
that." Micromanaging is a big mistake; it diminishes people's
self-confidence, saps their initiative, and stifles their ability to
think for themselves.
There's an enormous difference between leading an organization and
presiding over it. The leader who boasts of a hands-off style is not
dealing with the issues of the day, not confronting the people
responsible for poor performance or searching for problems to solve and
making sure they get solved. Putting the right people in the right jobs
and ensuring that rewards and recognition reinforce performance are
essential.
The Leader's 7 Essential Behaviors
How does a leader in charge of execution avoid being a micromanager
caught up in the details of running the ministry? Seven essential
behaviors form the building blocks of execution:
- Know your people and your business.
- Insist on realism.
- Set clear goals and priorities.
- Follow through.
- Reward the doers.
- Expand people's capabilities.
- Know yourself.
Most executives and managers don't understand the "discipline" of
execution. Not simply a matter of trying harder or paying more attention
to details, execution involves a specific set of core processes built on
a foundation of leadership behaviors; it's a culture unto itself.
Jeff Wade, DBS
BibleLeader.com
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